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Blogging, the Dems and Trent Lott

A New York Times editorial today: "H. L. Mencken is said to have guffawed and slapped his thigh in delight at times as he would write about a typical day at a presidential nominating convention. Those long-ago times are enviable for their unpredictability — eons removed from the scripted conventions that will soon be offered to the nation once more as lean cuisine for thought. All the more reason to hope, then, that this year's one potentially risky innovation — accepting dozens of free-form online bloggers as accredited convention journalists — may lace the proceedings with fresh insight and even some Menckenian impertinence."

Doth the State GOP Protest Too Much?

It strikes me that the state GOP is getting pretty bent out of shape over Edwards, considering that the state is supposedly so locked up for George Bush. Over on their Web site, they're playing the Pickering and Kennedy cards left and right (pardon the pun). Are they really as confident as they let on over this election, or are they worried that voters in the state that given up so many of its children in the Iraqi War might not be so predictable this time around?

Dueling for the NRA Vote

Evan Derkacz writes for Alternet that the pro-gun vote doesn't necessarily belong to George Bush. He writes: "Although Kerry seems to have learned from Gore's mistakes and Bush has lost favor among much of the vigilant Second Amendment crowd, conventional wisdom grants NRA endorsement—a lock for Bush—a great deal of political weight. The NRA has been heavily involved in politics since at least 1980, when it endorsed Ronald Reagan for president. Since then, it has become the bogeyman of many a political campaign, wielding clout beyond its numbers, and is largely responsible for what many consider to be some of the world's most reckless gun control policies. But does it deserve the mythic make-or-break reputation this time around?"

Cheney Says He's Staying on GOP Ticket

AP is reporting that Vice President Cheney says he's staying on Bush's ticket. Good news for Dems and the ABB crowd?

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Can Dems Get Back on Track with Blacks?

In his column, Earl Ofari Hutchinson says yes, but only if they boldly speak out for issues that matter to African Americans: "Edwards potentially can ensure that blacks turn out in big numbers. But he must do more than take digs at the Confederate flag. He must use his vice presidential candidacy as a bully pulpit to speak out for affirmative action, tougher and expanded hate crimes laws, repeal of the mandatory drug laws that warehouse thousands of young blacks for mostly non-violent, non-serious crimes and attack the glaring race inequities in the death penalty and funding for mostly black and Latino schools."

JFP PoliticsBlog Is Back! (Almost)

The JFP is re-launching our popular PoliticsBlog to track information about candidates our readers can vote for this year—from U.S. president to judicial races in Mississippi. Our news interns are currently assembling photos of candidates, putting together candidate questionnaires (can't wait to see Bush's answers) and preparing the site for re-launch by 2004 with new candidates. Meantime, you can click around the site, which still contains candidate information on last fall's candidates (including a very lengthy blog discussion about Haley Barbour!). And while you're in there, e-mail the interns at [e-mail missing] about what you'd like to see on the 2004 candidate blog—including specific questions you'd like to answered about the candidate. (We don't expect all the questionnaires to be returned — ;-) — but we will do research on your questions and post what we can find. You can also suggest links to information and the like. And, of course, we welcome your participation in the discussion.

John Edwards: Friend of Business?

The Washington Post today: "Business associations in Washington were uniformly hostile yesterday to John Kerry's choice of Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) as his running mate, promising that a trial lawyer on the ticket will energize them and their members to defeat the Democrats in November."

Barbour Revitalizing Democratic Party?

Bobby Harrison argues in the Daily Journal that Barbour is singlehandedly revitalizing the Democratic Party in the state. I think he has a point. "Haley Barbour lives, eats and sleeps politics. He knows it inside and out. Having said that, Barbour, a Republican political strategist dynamo, has done more to revitalize the Mississippi Democratic Party than any Democrat in the state. He has given a disjointed, divided group of Democrats something to rally behind - public education and Medicaid." [...]

Barbour Trying to Bring Back 1920s

Excellent column by Ole Miss professor Joe Atkins:

Dick Molpus Raises the Roof in Neshoba County

June 20, 2004—With Gov. Haley Barbour sitting right behind him, former Secretary of State and Neshoba County native Dick Molpus made a thundering speech in honor of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner Sunday in his hometown. The speech went far beyond his historic 1989 speech in which he became the only public official to have apologized for the murders. Sunday, Molpus not only called for fellow Neshobans to provide evidence they've kept to themselves for many years, but also called for Mississippians to get past harmful race rhetoric that has divided the state for so long and to continue the legacy of the three men by taking care of fellow Mississippians. Following is the full text of Molpus' call to action that was interrupted frequently by applause and drew him a lengthy standing ovation by the diverse audience ...

Barbour and his Deadbeat Mississippians

June 11, 2004–Today in The New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert nails Barbour's cuts to Medicaid recipients–the worst Medicaid cuts ever: "If you want to see 'compassionate' conservatism in action, take a look at Mississippi, a state that is solidly in the red category (strong for Bush) and committed to its long tradition of keeping the poor and the unfortunate in as ragged and miserable a condition as possible. How's this for compassion? Mississippi has approved the deepest cut in Medicaid eligibility for senior citizens and the disabled that has ever been approved anywhere in the U.S."

Conservative Group Unveils Reagan Ad

AP is reporting: "Days after Ronald Reagan was laid to rest, a conservative interest group on Tuesday unveiled a campaign ad that aligns him with President Bush and criticizes Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. The Club for Growth's ad, which is to begin airing Wednesday, portrays both Republican presidents as leaders - Reagan on communism and Bush on terrorism, while claiming Kerry was 'wrong then, wrong now' on national security. The ad shows Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, testifying to Congress in 1971 that 'we cannot fight communism all over the world and I think we should have learned that lesson by now.'

Former Bush Staffer Working for Kerry

AP is reporting: "Randy Beers sat on the porch steps next to his longtime friend and colleague Dick Clarke and the words came tumbling out in a torrent. 'I think I have to quit. ... I can't work for these people. I'm sorry, I just can't.' It was a few days before the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, and Beers was President Bush's special assistant for combating terrorism, a job he had held for only a matter of months. But Beers was no newcomer to government; he had worked on foreign policy for four presidents.

Salter Bashes Holland on Medicaid

Sid Salter's column today bashes Rep. Steve Holland for originally supporting Haley Barbour's Medicaide bill, accusing him of "crawfishing": "Trouble is, the record shows that Holland was the chief House negotiator in the legislative conference committee that approved the Barbour-backed Medicaid reform bill which removed the PLAD category from Medicaid coverage in the first place. Holland signed off on the conference report, presented it to the House, and spoke passionately in favor of its passage. Holland sold his fellow House members on the wisdom of removing the category from Medicaid. Don't believe it? Ask them."

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